Todoroki Kawaii

"If a drawing looks clumsy, or lacks appeal, or no longer looks like the model, perhaps the animator is trying to show something that should not be shown.   When Fred (Moore) was giving a talk on drawing Mickey, he was asked,  "How do you draw him looking right down on top of his head?"  Fred responded, "Why would you?"  If the appeal in the design was based on the balance of the ears to the nose and the relationship of the cheeks to the eyes and the head shape, Fred wondered why would you deliberately throw all that away?   Why would you show a view that did not have much going for it as possible?   - Frank Thomas , Ollie Johnston , The Illusion of Life   -   "What happens is FACT.  TRUTH is what we think about. Write the truth."  - Robert McKee People often like to cite the 12 Points of Animation as described in the Illusion of Life by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. In this very same tome is their once senior animator, Fred Moore's...

"What is the character thinking and why does he feel that way?" - Ollie Johnston "キャラクターは何を考え、なぜそう感じているのか?" - オリー・ジョンストン You might be asking, what's wrong with my drawing?  Why isn't there anything happening?  The anatomy is correct, I've rendered it completely, I have used perspective but why isn't alive?  The answer might be in the question above. こんな疑問を持ったことがあるのではないでしょうか。 自分のドローイングはどこが悪いんだろう?  どうもピンと来ないのはなぜだろう?  アナトミーは正しいし、陰影もしっかりつけたし、 パースもちゃんとしている。それなのに、生き生きとしていない。 その答えは、オリーの言葉の中に見つけることができるはずです。 "A drawing that doesn't convey an emotion or a state of mind isn't a good drawing."   "感情あるいは心の持ちようを表していないドローイングは、 良いドローイングとは言えない"   Make judgments about what you are putting down on paper.  Just don't copy.  We have cameras and digital photography for that. Your job as an artist is to convey a character.  Tell a story.  Your audience is paying you (with either money or time)  to show them what  you , see.  Don't be af...

The model of the flour sack, or the rice bag is nothing new at all in the west, but I thought it deserves some review for our friends in Japan. The torso which makes up two of the largest masses of the body, determines the weight of the body. There are many models to help simplify these masses in drawing:   the bean, the box forms and in animation, “the flour sack” or the “rice bag.”   The rice bag functions just as well as the box form or the bean shape to simplify the torso as a 3-dimentional form but it also: 1)    Makes weight clear 2)    Shows forces acting on the body 3)    Shows Emotion!! Master the Rice Bag and use it as a model to show feelings.   Where energy is   heavy, the form will squash.    Where energy is pulling the form will stretch. To help yourself visualize:   How would you show emotion if you didn’t have any arms or legs??